bas-rutten

bob-sapp

Gina-Carano

Chuck-Liddell

[Photo: HBO]

don-frye

erik-apple

[Photo: Lionsgate]

Kimbo-Slice

[Photo: Universal Pictures]

Tito-Ortiz

[Photo: CBS]

Quinton-Jackson

[Photo: 20th Century Fox]

randy-couture

[Photo: Lionsgate]

As you settle in for tonight’s Bellator fight between Michael Chandler and Eddie Alvarez on Spike at 9 pm ET (you’re doing that, right?), ask yourself this: What led you to become a mixed martial arts fan? We bet a whole lot of you are into it because the sport’s biggest stars have made their way into other realms of pop culture. Like professional wrestlers before them, fighters like Chuck Liddell, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Gina Carano, Randy Couture and Bas Rutten have been trying their hand (and feet) at acting.
Sometimes it’s just to play themselves in a funny cameo, sometimes it’s to be the opponent in a fight or a bouncer at a strip club, and then there are some instances when they’re allowed to take center stage. Whether or not they’re on their way to the Academy Awards with these roles is not the point — they’re doing their part to spread the word that MMA is damn entertaining.